,RIDING 'IMPRESSION. 1996 Honda XR650L
By Mark Hoyer
Photos by Kit Palmer
n 1831 British scientist Michael Faraday created a device that would
eventually change the world: the
electric motor. And old Faraday would
be proud to see what a fine application
was made for his most famous of inventions. Since its contrivance, the electric
motor has had countless applications to
ease our lives here on the planet, but
none more noble and good than the
starting of a big-bore, four-stroke single.
It wasn't too many years ago that the
manufacturers finally realized th'!t for a
small weight penalty the convenience of
electric starting increased usability and
decreased the dual sport compromise
dramatically; trying to kick-start such a
machine can break a man (or his foot) in
short order.
And therein lies the beauty of
Honda's electric-start XR650L: enough
civility to serve in a world of innumerable forms of ever-spreading pavement,
and the competence and fortitude to take
you far away from it with nary a whimper. Well, there may be one or two quiet
protests now and again when conditions
are particularly rough, but nothing that
can't be quickly and easily addressed
with a trip to your nearest dealer.
And the first thing to go, as is usually
the case, should be the tires. The pavement-oriented rubber is just that, pavement-oriented, and on the road the faux
knobbies are smooth and quiet, tracking
straight without much protest over freeway rain-grooves at speeds up to about
65 mph. At velocities greater than tha\,
things get a bit dodgy, with a low-fre,
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The XR650L Is tall.
Even riders with
long inseam.s will
be on their toes at
stoplights.
quency oscillation that will actually be
much more alarming to those around
you than to you yourself. When the tarmac ends you'd be well advised to drop
a few p.s.i. hom the stock Bridgestones
to make the most of what traction is
available. One of our testers made the
mistake of running 28 p.s.i. for the eN
dual sport ride, held under dry, dusty
conditions. As a result the handling
wasn't exactly confidence-inspiring for
the novice dirt rider, with an unpredictable front-end push - sort of Hke
